" Dear Tivo,
you guys better deal with the cable companies.. (mainly time warner) they are hurting you. the switched digital video is rendering the cablecards useless as they can not receive many of the cable channels. does this not break the FCC mandate on cable card support? should my cable viewing experience be crippled just because I chose not to use the cable companies horrible set top box and instead opted for YOUR new series 3 tivo along with the aid of cablecards?

seems to me like you guys are the ones that should be heading this battle. "

So if this "switched video" does indeed break the FCC mandate for cable card support, couldn't this open the door for a class action lawsuit? We ALL need to fight this now so it doesn't grow. Right now its austin and a few others.. soon it will be you. We need to fight this.

*sigh*
Zync> I heard TW Austin is a test market for a technology called Switched Video which could, depending on how its used by the cable company, prevent access to certain channels unless the cable set top box requests the channel (2-way comm). Are you familiar with the use of switched video in the Austin area?
Jenn> Yes, We are in the area that requires a "switched video"
Zync> Do you know which channles are subjected to switching?
Zync> I had heard it was things like the west coast premium channels - nothing commonly used.
Zync> But I'd like to know for sure, since this breaks the use of cable cards with your cable system.
Jenn> There are new ones that were added like National Geo, HGTV, Food, the weather channels,. 13, 14, 20, 23, disney, and CNN
Zync> Wow - these are commonly accessed channels. Are you saying that I will not be able to get these channels if I use my cable card?
Jenn> One moment... let me verify.
Jenn> No, you are not able to get those channels that are considered that "switched" channels.

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I wonder if she got SDV and Digital Simulcast confused. (I think that is the right term)
Often they send a digital channel as well as the analog channel. If you have a STB from the cable company and tune to channel 13 for example, and 13 is sent in analog and digital, the box will display the digital channel. If you don't have a box and tune to channel 13 you get the analog version.
If you use a S3 without a cable card you will get the analog version.
If you use a S3 with a cable card you will get the digital version.
The Food channel, weather channel, and CNN are popular channels. It wouldn't make sense to make these SDV channels, there would be no bandwidth savings.

I wonder if she got SDV and Digital Simulcast confused. (I think that is the right term)
Often they send a digital channel as well as the analog channel. If you have a STB from the cable company and tune to channel 13 for example, and 13 is sent in analog and digital, the box will display the digital channel. If you don't have a box and tune to channel 13 you get the analog version.
If you use a S3 without a cable card you will get the analog version.
If you use a S3 with a cable card you will get the digital version.
The Food channel, weather channel, and CNN are popular channels. It wouldn't make sense to make these SDV channels, there would be no bandwidth savings.

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"If you use a S3 with a cable card you will get the digital version"

Not true with TWC Raleigh. Cablecard gets the analog version.

When I had the card in a TV, I could see that analog artifacts. Spoke with TWC and they confirmed that CC receives NTSC analog for channels under 100. Digital Simulcast is only with their STB.

When I had the card in a TV, I could see that analog artifacts. Spoke with TWC and they confirmed that CC receives NTSC analog for channels under 100. Digital Simulcast is only with their STB.

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You're STUCK with analog on all channels 100 and below? that is insane.. what's the point of even having an 800 dollar HD tivo then? and whats going to happen to the people who purchased an hd tivo when they go to switched digital all over? this could end up very badly.

You're STUCK with analog on all channels 100 and below? that is insane.. what's the point of even having an 800 dollar HD tivo then? and whats going to happen to the people who purchased an hd tivo when they go to switched digital all over? this could end up very badly.

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The only hope is that Tivo will provide the capability to remap the analog channel number to the digital simulcast QAM channel.

It doesnt appear to be SDV... Just fixed digital QAM. TWC could do the mapping for us in the CC.... but that would require them to actually care about us.

i don't get the feeling that time warner really cares about me, at least not the los angeles branch. not in the least. the woman spit in my face when i went into the oxnard street office. not kidding. she said "we don't need you, you need us. sorry." then she spit in my face.

Here is an email I received from a contact within TW in SC. Already obsolete technology!? Also, why are hispanic customers being prejudiced against? They cannot use cable cards for hispanic content apparently.

Enjoy:

-------------------------

Hello,

I'm sorry you didn't realize SDV was an issue with one-way cable cards. I thought I might have covered that in detail on the forum. Let we say that you receive all the channels you pay for because we are not selling partial 'tiers' of digital service. Two exceptions probably instantly leap to your mind: Premium channels and The HD Tier -

Premium - customers only ever pay for the linear channel of service, so HBO East coast proper. All other multiplex of the screen are free. So if you were living in Lane, SC you would pay $9.95 for HBO one channel in Analog, just like in Columbia where you pay $9.95 for the one channel and get the other 13 as a bonus because you are a digital premium subscriber.

HD Tier - we launched as a 5 channel service at $6.95 and when we added Universal HD, we didn't increase the rate, so CableCARD subs are getting and paying for what was always available to them.

2 Way CableCARDs will be available next year - BUT they will not convert your existing one-way television into two-way - the input on your TV will remain one way even with a two-way card. 2 way TVs are sometime next year as well, but that would be another expenditure for you.

I have attached a list of channels available with the CableCARD - it doesn't include HBO HD East or Sho HD East - this is my typo, but you get them. What you cannot get is:
Digital Sports Tier
Hispanic Tier
Sports Packages
PPV
All West Coast Premium channels
Selected East Coast Premium multiplex channels

Tivo 3 is One-Way, so same SDV issues will apply

You will not get ANY additional HD channels beyond your current line up with one-way cable card.

Again I apologize for not doing a good enough job to wave you off this already obsolete technology.

When I had the card in a TV, I could see that analog artifacts. Spoke with TWC and they confirmed that CC receives NTSC analog for channels under 100. Digital Simulcast is only with their STB.

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Well, that bites, and is yet another example of the monopoly keeping competition out through marginally legal means. Basically what I have come to expect from TWC. I guess I won't get the cablecards then, as that's the only reason I had to have them (I get all my HD OTA in Durham). Actually, I think I'll just keep DirecTV and not even bother with TWC (never thought I'd say that, but the 6.3 upgrade extended the life of my HDTiVo significantly).

When I had the card in a TV, I could see that analog artifacts. Spoke with TWC and they confirmed that CC receives NTSC analog for channels under 100. Digital Simulcast is only with their STB.

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I'm not doubting you, this just is contradictory to what I've read in the past couple months. (I'm trying to find the posts where I read it, I don't remember if it was here or AVS, so its taking some time.) And one of the uses of cablecards is to map QAM digtial channels.
For years, the general rule of thumb were channels 1-99 are analog, and 100+ are digital, but that is no longer accurate, for most major cable companies.

I'm not doubting you, this just is contradictory to what I've read in the past couple months. (I'm trying to find the posts where I read it, I don't remember if it was here or AVS, so its taking some time.) And one of the uses of cablecards is to map QAM digtial channels.

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Mapping the HD channels to specific QAM frequencies and re-mapping the analog channel to its digital simulcast are two different things.

I haven't ordered a S3 yet, but I did call TW here in Raleigh, NC. They charge 1.75 per card per month, but charge 49.99 installation per card. Anyone else here live in Raleigh get the same answer?

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Yes, I got the same quote and also got told I would no longer be able to stay in DIGIPiC and my Internet bill would also go up too since I would be a-la-carte.
That sucks and is just plain bad service.

Time Warner took over Adelphia here in Waterville, ME. The first 100 channels are in analog and there is no digital simulast available here even with their best DVR STB. They plan on making no changes to this area until 1999 (so that probably means no SDV either). They have 3 major networks in HD and three or four national HD channels beyond that, but they don't have very much HD. So, as much as I'd like to buy an S3 and support TIVO, I'm going with DirecTV's HR20-700 solution to complement the HR10-250 and HDVR2 receivers that I already have, which ultimately means another two year commitment starting on Monday 9/18/2006.

So, Time Warner Cable has lost out on this sale.

I really hope that Verizon is serious about bringing FIOS here as they state on the FIOS web page and the sooner the better.

damn it. i really didn't want to have to return this thing, but i think i have to. unless tivo can guarantee some kind of swap out deal when they release the next tivo with cablecard 2.0 compatibility and a bigger hard drive. what a hassle.

MurrayJimW,
Please keep us posted on any SDV issues. I've exchanged emails with Jack Stanley, President of Triad TWC regarding the SA8300 and SDV and TiVo S3. If you start losing HD channels or anything else, please post here or PM me.

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You can count on it.

I honestly believe this will end up in a class action suit or with the FCC coming down on TWC if they push this issue. As far as I am concerned, they are already at odds with the FCC's mandate. We know the cable companies threw everything they had at this ruling before it was passed to stop it. Since they lost that political battle, they have decided to "test the waters" to see what will happen if they ignore it. Hopefully they will get what is coming to them......

The same goes for you. If you hear anything from Stanley or anyone else about an acceleration of SDV rollout or any more changes please let me know so I can at least start writing letters or making phone calls.

Yea, what I did was tuned in ESPN HD, ok that worked, changed the channel on that tuner and had it record something else (to make sure it wasn't being used), and the hit "live TV" to switch tuners, tuned to ESPN HD, nada. I was able to clear this up with a simple telephone call, though they seemed clueless. However, now I notice that neither tuner pulls in SPEEDChannel, though they both think they are. Cripes.

That list doesn't address any SDV channels, and the Triad technical guy has told me that they're putting "all their channels" on SDV.

Cool that their are several of us from the Piedmont Triad NC.

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Under where it says Note: Digital Cable Ready TV required for this service.
It says:

*Effective April 1, 2006, additional time zone channels available with some of our Premium Services will move to a two-way, switched digital technology and will not be available via CableCARD. Additional time zone programming is not available with all Premium Services.